Astronomy News

In 1919 two astronomers set out on an expedition to prove Einstein's new general theory of relativity by observing a total solar eclipse.

The Observatory Science Centre at Herstmonceux is marking its involvement with this historic astronomical endeavour with a series of events celebrating one of the turning points in our understanding of the Universe.

In the April episode of Radio Astronomy, the BBC Sky at Night Magazine crew look at the effects of light pollution, talk about the trials and tribulations of the Mars rovers and delve deep into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

In the latest episode of Radio Astronomy, the BBC Sky at Night Magazine team discuss the latest theories about Planet 9 with physicist Antranik Sefilian, plus there’s chat about aurora hunting and the achievements of Apollo 9.

A new study has found the decision making of astronauts might be affected by being in zero gravity. Psychologists asked volunteers to perform a decision based task, and found that when volunteers were subjected to simulated weightlessness, their performance was markedly different to when they were on 'Earth'.

Curiosity accidentally recreated an experiment first performed by Apollo 17, finding that Mount Sharp is not as dense as previously thought. The finding throws uncertainty on how the mountain was created.

In the latest episode of Radio Astronomy, the BBC Sky at Night Magazine team look at the recent Chinese lunar mission Chang’e 4, discuss the New Horizons flyby of Ultima Thule and wonder why a black hole isn’t as strong as a fridge magnet.

Plus, they speak to Martin Harwit, astrophysicist and author of Cosmic Discovery, about how some of the most important astronomical discoveries were made.

Something is altering the orbits of objects on the outskirts of our Solar System.

The existing theory is that a ninth planet could be shepherding these objects into their strange orbits, but a new idea states it could simply be the cumulative gravity of all objects beyond Neptune creating the wonky worlds.

Comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) has excited the astronomical community because it appears to...

The news stories above come directly from NASA, the European Southern Observatory, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope website. As such they are unedited by Sky at Night Magazine staff.

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